ATHENS, Ohio – Jon Smith’s tip-in with less than a second remaining forced overtime, but Akron prevailed against Ohio in the extra period, 88-81, to take commanding control of first place in the Mid-American Conference on Wednesday night in front of more than 11,000 at The Convo.

Demetrius Treadwell had 21 points and seven rebounds, while Jake Kretzer did not miss a shot in scoring 19 points. Alex Abreu and Zeke Marshall, both tallied 16 points.

D.J. Cooper finished with 26 points and dished out four assists to lead Ohio (20-8, 11-2 MAC). Walter Offutt had 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Travis Wilkins and Reggie Keely added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Zips (23-4, 13-0 MAC) scored the game's first nine points, the Bobcats bounced back big to lead by as many as 18 in the first half and Akron led by as much as six in the second half.

“There were a lot of different mentalities for our team,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “I think the first half we played probably as well as we did in a month. … Then in the second half, we got so caught up in the emotion of the game that we came out of character and we didn’t make them work defensively. … We didn’t attack them the way we did in the first half. Then we showed great courage to get into overtime and then I think they out-toughed us in the last three minutes of overtime.”

Treadwell hit two free throws with 1:03 left in regulation to put Akron up, 72-68, but Keely pump faked Marshall, drew his fifth foul and scored. The free throw, though, was off the mark, leaving Ohio down two.

Harney missed on the other end, keeping the Bobcats alive. Offutt missed on a good look from the wing, but Smith was there to tip it back in with .7 second left.

Overtime was not kind to the Bobcats, however. Kretzer hit a pair of free throws at the 4:09 mark and did not trail again. Walsh put back a missed 3-pointer, and after Offutt split a pair of free throws, Treadwell scored a three-point play that put Akron up by six. Ohio got no closer than five the rest of the way.

“It shows a lot about our guys,” Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. “It’s about the 10th time we’ve been down and came roaring back, but to do it in this building, I can’t say how impressed I am.”

Akron went up 9-0 on a Treadwell jumper barely more than two minutes into the game, but Ohio came back to tie the game at nine on a Cooper 3-pointer.

With the game tied at 13, the Bobcats ran off 13 straight points to double up the Zips, and the lead was 34-16 on a Keely dunk after a Cooper steal and assist with 4:33 left in the half.

“We exorcised our demons tonight,” Dambrot said. “When they got us down 18, it was like ‘Oh, boy.’ But this team is different than last year. It’s hard to explain it.”

Akron got its deficit to 41-30 on an Abreu fall-back jumper before halftime.

Trailing 45-34 early in the second half, the Zips scored 15 straight points and Ohio did not lead again in the game.

“When we get them down like that, we’ve got to continue to get stops,” Offutt said. “I don’t think it falls too much on offense. Sometimes shots don’t go in. … I don’t think we defended and rebounded in that stretch where they came back.”

Kretzer played a big part in Akron’s comeback, going 6 of 6 from the field, including 5 of 5 from 3-point range, and 2 of 2 at the foul line. He was playing only a short ways from his hometown of Waverly.

It was a dream-come-true tonight,” he said. “I had a lot of family and friends from home here, and I just tried to get my mind focused.”

Akron, which extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 19 games and just entered the top 25 at No. 24, takes a two-game lead in the MAC standings with only three games remaining. While it seems the Zips have all but wrapped up the regular season championship, there is a good chance the teams could meet again in the tournament.

“We won the mini-battles,” Dambrot said. “Now we’ve got to win the big battle when push comes to shove.”

Ohio will try to stop its two-game losing streak when it hits the road to face Bowling Green at 12 p.m. Saturday.